Regarding your first point: I think you are correct. What we are seeing is something akin to a US elephant curve[1] but the chasm is widening to upper middle cl

Regarding your first point: I think you are correct. What we are seeing is something akin to a US elephant curve[1] but the chasm is widening to upper middle class professionals, while the trunk is pointing up more sharply. When the US deindustrialized, the global poor got richer (manufacturing earns more than subsistence farming) and the rich got richer (it's cheaper to make things overseas), but the lower middle class got poorer. In aggregate it looks like the world got richer, so the Steven Pinkers of the world scold the complainers for not getting that we are living in the best time in human history. I think the economy is turning against the kind of worker who gets a four year degree and might have a job title like, "data scientist", and everyone is going to tell them they should have known better. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elephant_Curve https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elephant_Curve